


Soul Poisoning

by BuruRaven



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Canon Compliant Up To Chapter 113, Conflicted Ciel, Except In This Case It’s Souls We’re Talking About, Fluff, Food Poisoning, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, No Slash, Power Imbalance, Sick Sebastian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2016-03-15
Packaged: 2018-05-26 22:57:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6259093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuruRaven/pseuds/BuruRaven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“Sebastian, stop this nonsense. Exactly for how long are you planning on pretending to be asleep?”, he nearly spitted, such was his disdain. “Wake up.” </i>
  <br/>
  <i>The pale, immobile butler on the bed didn’t show any signs of hearing his master. He didn’t even seem to be breathing, not that Ciel actually believed that he needed to. </i>
</p><p>You can also find this fic on my tumblr, <a href="http://bururaven.tumblr.com/post/141101730569/soul-poisoning">here</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler. Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler is the property of Yana Toboso, and is not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this, nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.

Gently, without knocking, Ciel Phantomhive opened the door to his butler’s bedroom, slithered inside and silently closed the door behind himself, locking it. On the inside, he pocketed the key, leaned against the dark wood and released a sigh of relief, then took in [the sight before him](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mangapanda.com%2Fkuroshitsuji%2F44%2F10&t=NmZhYjExMGZhZjMyMzg1NGNlY2I3NzBmYjcyOTcxODYzMTExMDI4NixIREpNU0UzTw%3D%3D).

The small room was dimly lit by the feeble orange glow of an oil lamp that stood beside a windup alarm clock on the bedside table, no doubt left alight by a hasty Mey-Rin, for the room’s occupant didn’t really need it. A wardrobe to the left, a desk and a chair and a small, unlit fireplace to the right, a curtain-less window. Underneath it, the single bed, heretofore probably never slept on, had now a body in it. Only said body wasn’t precisely sleeping.

The earl did his best to steel his pale features and dignifiedly charged into the room. He stopped by the demon’s head.

“Sebastian, stop this nonsense. Exactly for how long are you planning on pretending to be asleep?”, he nearly spitted, such was his disdain. “Wake up.”

The pale, immobile butler on the bed didn’t show any signs of hearing his master. He didn’t even seem to be breathing, not that Ciel actually believed that he needed to.

Perhaps this death-like state was what made it so easy for Ciel to convince Mey-Rin to call for a priest at this hour of the night. Not that Sebastian would _ever_ need a cleric, even if he really were dying, but because Ciel wanted to speak to his butler in private without anyone actually noticing that he had done so. It was vexing enough that he had resorted to come see Sebastian after a whole day resisting that idea; he didn’t need the servants to know that he had actually done it in the end.

Either way, even if Ciel had tried to secretly come visit Sebastian earlier, he was sure to be stopped by at least one of the Phantomhive staff members, who had apparently been lurking by Sebastian’s bedside at all times during the past twenty hours or so.

Ciel rolled his eyes at Sebastian’s lack of response.

“Wake up, Sebastian. This is an order.”

The very moment Ciel felt his seal react to the surge of power brought on by his order, Sebastian growled deeply, suddenly opening his eyes to reveal only the white of his rolled back orbits. Sudden, sharp, stabbing pain reverberated behind the earl’s own right eye. He fell to his knees, clutching his head and biting his lower lip in an attempt not to scream out loud in agony. The pain disappeared in a matter of seconds but left the boy winded, desperately trying to calm his faltering breath.

Ciel raised to his feet with difficulty, grabbing at the bed covers for support.

Sebastian was back to his previous motionless, unresponsive countenance, but was now laying partially on his side, facing _away_ from Ciel. The earl seethed with rage.

“Don’t…”, hissed the boy menacingly “… you dare…”, he grabbed Sebastian’s chin with his left hand and squeezed, “… disobey…”, he forcefully pulled Sebastian’s head to face him, “… my order!”

Everything was quiet for a couple of seconds, the only movement coming from Ciel’s restless ribcage and the only sound coming from Ciel’s erratic breaths. Sebastian’s neck was bent in a way that couldn’t possibly be comfortable for him.

Blinking, the boy released the demon’s chin as if he’d been stung and dumbly watched the soft, slow recoil of the pillow underneath Sebastian’s head as the butler’s strained muscles passively returned his neck to a more natural position.

Ciel gulped, trying to ignore the genuine dread that was threatening to overcome him.

“This… this is all your fault, you repulsive… glutton.”, he whispered the last word almost apologetically.

Then, as if catching himself at fault, the boy shook his head to clear it and, once again, steeled his pale, tired features into his trademark despotic countenance.

“Wake up this instant, Sebastian. This is **an order!** ”

The more intense surge of power was followed by an equally more intense agony. This time, Ciel couldn’t supress his scream. And, as his body fell to the ground and almost instantly grew numb on of the cold floor, so did a single coal black feather in his field of vision.

From his privileged position on the ground, the eerie silent room seemed to grow darker and colder. As if mocking him, Ciel’s memories supplied him with a replay of his prize winning performance before the Queen’s butlers, a few months ago. 

“ _You, my butler… You… only you… You were supposed to be by my side until the end. Don’t you dare leave me behind, Sebastian!! It’s an order! An order… **An order**_[ ** _!!!_**](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mangapanda.com%2Fkuroshitsuji%2F41%2F30&t=NGJkYTU3NDIyNjdhMmI5YWRhMzk3YzFiZjhlNjA0NjQwNzdkN2NkOCxIREpNU0UzTw%3D%3D)”.


	2. Chapter 2

##  _About one day earlier…_

 

In face of the odd events that transpired on [that hazy Friday night](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mangapanda.com%2Fkuroshitsuji%2F113&t=NjJiOGEyMWM5YWZkOGRmYmNmYjQ4MjAwMDg0ZDRiOGY3MDk4MGMxMyxIREpNU0UzTw%3D%3D), the earl and his butler decided that an inspection of the Sphere Music Hall premises in the early hours of the following morning was the next best course of action. Even assuming that the building wasn’t left completely unguarded during the day, the lack of the noisy populace that gathered in the evening made infiltration and reckoning a much easier job to accomplish. Sebastian could hide in the shadows of the dawn and, even with Ciel in toll, infiltrating a building without being seen was a relatively easy task for him. 

In order to avoid that any connection between the earl and the burglary they were about to commit was ever made, they left the carriage at the London house and covered the distance between there and Sphere Music Hall via rooftops. 

Despite a few isolated exceptions, most of the city was still asleep at that hour of the morning. They entered the building through a back door that Sebastian had discovered the previous night and thus made it inside the building without being seen. After a long corridor of storage rooms, Sebastian stopped at a small, inconspicuous door.

“I believe this door opens behind a drapery on the wall of the big common room.”, Sebastian quietly informed the earl.

“Very well. Open it.”, Ciel replied, impatient.

“I can hear people on the other side. Master Redmond, Master Bluewer… Master Violet… and Master Greenhill.”

“What? What are they doing here at this hour of the morning??”

Sebastian carefully opened the door just a few centimetres. The dark drapery was too thick for Ciel to see the ex-Weston students, but he could clearly hear what they were saying.

“… don’t know what true art is…!”

“I am not stifling your artistic creativity in the least, I’m simply trying to say that piece of the choreography doesn’t fit into the rhythm of the whole piece.”, said Greenhill in a placating tone of voice.

“Doesn’t fit?? How come?? Pray tell me what specific part you’re talking about!”, retorted Bluewer hotly.

“Everyone! I think we should leave it for today.”, Redmond interrupted, “We’re all tired…”

“And hungry.”, Violet added quietly.

“And hungry.”, Redmond agreed, “I say we come back for a final rehearsal at five o’clock. What do you say?”

“Okay.”, replied Violet in a monotonous tone of voice.

“Fine.”, said Bluewer.

“See you later, then.”, concluded Greenhill.

After that, there was the sound of moving furniture, some short parting pleasantries, the sound of footsteps and the opening and closing of the big main door.

Ciel looked expectantly at Sebastian.

The butler opened the small door further and gracefully pulled the drapery to the side, then made a small bow, signalling Ciel to come through before him.

From the main room, Ciel was able to retrace his steps of the previous night and soon the two burglars found themselves in the circular room with the odd “Starlight Shower” projector in the middle and the concentrically distributed chaise lounges.

“It’s here.”, Ciel whispered back at Sebastian, who followed a couple of paces after the earl as he walked towards the centre of the room, “And that strange object is the one that produced those light illusions I told you about.”

Sebastian hummed in acquiescence.

“There are indeed traces of a peculiar scent permeating this chamber, Young Master.”, he observed calmly in an equally quiet tone of voice, “It’s somewhat cloying. I wonder…”

Ciel heard how his butler came to a sudden halt behind him and turned on his heels, only to find the demon frozen, looking positively scandalized at the strange device and its pedestal in the middle of the room.

“Those are…”, Sebastian murmured softly, as if talking to himself.

“What?”, Ciel interposed impatiently, “What is it?”

The butler didn’t reply, only took a long, deep intake of breath through his nose, eyes closed. Suddenly, his eyelids rose, revealing deep red eyes. 

The next thing Ciel knew, Sebastian was hugging the vaguely round object and tearing it off its pedestal, like a lid to a box. Then, the demon froze again, looking dumfounded at whatever seemed to be inside the pedestal.

“Sebastian?”, Ciel whispered as he came closer, hesitant. He followed the direction of Sebastian’s eyesight and realized he had no idea of what he was looking at.

The pedestal was hollow. Inside it, there was a liquid, or rather, a fluid, for Ciel couldn’t actually be sure that it wasn’t a gas. Said fluid was unlike anything the boy had ever laid eyes upon. It was dark like the night sky and permeated by countless points of light, much like stars on the obscure firmament. The points of light shone with different colours, grouping in swirls, spirals and blots, making the fluid seem peppered with colourful glitter… blue, red, green, purple, pink, yellow, white…, interlacing and sliding against and into each other in a slow, hypnotising dance. Much like the stars in the night sky, the fluid seemed to be shining, almost pulsating.

Ciel could feel that, whatever that substance was, it had undeniable _power_. He also realized that this was what had caused the illusions of light that he had witnessed the previous night. The device on top of the pedestal, or rather, on top of the container, only served as a way of directing the light that the fluid naturally released.

“What… is this?”, Ciel whispered.

No answer.

With difficulty, the earl pulled his eyes away from that mesmerizing sight, only to find Sebastian standing beside him, still bewitched by it.

“Sebastian?”

The demon’s glowing red eyes didn’t even twitch. If anything, Sebastian seemed to be leaning further over the container, ungloving his left hand as he went.

“Hey! Sebastian, what on earth-”

Sebastian had submerged his hand on the fluid, fangs extended, a slightly deranged predatory look on his face. He resembled a starved beast about to savagely dismember his first prey after a far too long period of fasting.

Except all he did was take a handful of the strange fluid and drink it… _inhale it?_ , Ciel wasn’t sure. Then, another handful, and another, and another, in rapid succession.

While perplexedly watching this scene, the boy was assaulted by the memory of the odd dream he had not longer than a week previously. Undertaker forcing him to drink a glittery dark substance in his sleep…

Ciel couldn’t testify for the fluid’s identity with absolute certainty based only on the vague memory he had from its dream appearance, but he could clearly remember the desperate feeling he experienced on drinking it in his dream. The insistent, panicky mantra of “This is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong…” rose again in his breast. 

This was wrong.

“S-stop it!”, said Ciel, grabbing Sebastian’s right sleeve and pulling, to no avail.

“Sebastian, stop! This is an order!”, he almost screamed.

Sebastian stopped. For a moment, earl and butler stood there, just looking at each other, both slightly dishevelled. Then, the door burst open and six men clad in white robes rampaged into the room.

“Intruders!”

“Catch them!!”

“Intruders!”

“Don’t let them escape!!”

“Sebastian, retreat.”, Ciel commanded. Sebastian immediately held the boy close to his chest, grabbed one of the chaise lounges and, taking advantage of the would-be pedestal, jumped over to the other side of the room, back flipping once in mid-air and landing between the small angry mob, momentarily confusing the men. 

But they recovered quickly from their shock, charging at the demon with punches and kicks. Sebastian avoided them easily, keeping Ciel always well at bay from their clumsy attacks, while moving towards the door. Once outside the room, Sebastian swiftly closed and blocked the door with the chaise lounge that he had borrowed.  

Crisis averted, they remade their steps back to the big common room, through the corridor and out of the building, at supernatural speed, without encountering any other obstacles.

Once outside, Sebastian climbed atop of the rooftop and began his journey back to the London house, being extra careful not to be seen now that the sun was fully showing on the morning sky. Throughout all this, not one word was exchanged between the both of them.


	3. Chapter 3

Once surrounded by familiar walls, Ciel was returned to an actively upright position. The house was silent; Finnian should still be asleep in the servants’ quarters.

The butler proceeded to strip the earl of his coat and hat and hang them on the coat rack in the hall.

“You have been awfully quiet on the way home, Young Master…”, Sebastian broke the silence in what he hoped was a sheepishly tone of voice.

Ciel huffed irritatingly and started walking towards the stairs.

“What on earth happened back there, Sebastian? What was that thing? Why did you… consume it? And why did you ignore me?? I won’t allow such insolence!”

“My apologies, Young Master.”, began Sebastian, contritely, “I have been famished for quite some time now and the temptation was just too intense-”

“Famished? What do you mean?”, Ciel interposed brusquely.

“That substance was… a mixture of multiple… soul samples. The variety of that collection’s provenance was remarkable and the resulting scent of it was… most endearing. I… I couldn’t help myself. Something akin to instinct took over. Please forgive my weakness, Young Master.”

For a few seconds, Ciel didn’t know how to react to that information. Sebastian opened the door of the dining room for him.

“Where did…? How could…?”, the boy stuttered. But the enormity of their discovery started to take shape in his head even before Sebastian started explaining it.

“I believe we’ve been looking at this puzzle from the wrong point of view. Not the fortune-telling, nor the bracelets, the thing we should’ve been focusing on from the start was the blood.”

“Bravat got a blood sample out of everyone whose fortunes he read… Lizzie’s, mine, yours too…”

“Mine is irrelevant for I don’t have a soul. But, as for everyone else’s, yes.”, Sebastian agreed.

“Somehow, the blood worked as a magnet to draw pieces of the donor’s soul into that container.”, Ciel offered, “But how? That can’t be a naturally occurring event or otherwise humans would be losing their souls bit by bit throughout their whole lives!”

Sebastian pulled the chair at the head of the long dining table for Ciel to sit on.

“Indeed. For now, I’m assuming that there are frank supernatural powers at work here. Perhaps the cup Bravat used to collect the blood somehow created a bond between the victim’s blood and their essence, establishing a connection that, under the right circumstances, would slowly draw little pieces of the soul through it.”

“Is that even possible?”, Ciel asked, sceptical.

“Right now, I’m afraid we have no clues that could lead us to a more logical explanation. But I must admit that this is a very new concept, even for me.”, the demon confessed.

Sebastian began silently setting the table for the earl’s breakfast.

Ciel sighed, resigned.

“So, were the Music Sphere Hall closed events the _right circumstances_?”

“I believe so.”

“The songs… do you think they could be working as some sort of enchantment to draw the souls through the connections…?”, Ciel offered, hesitantly.

“Precisely.”, approved the butler, elegantly passing the earl his newspaper, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, Young Master, I’ll go get you your breakfast.”

Ciel uninterestedly waved him away.

A few minutes later, Sebastian returned with the food trolley. Ciel put the unfinished newspaper to the side.

 _Is that my imagination or is he shaking?_ , the boy wondered in the back of his mind as the butler attended to him. But the thought was quickly dismissed the moment the boy dove into his food. He was famished.

Midway through his meal, though, the suspicion that something was amiss returned when Sebastian seemed to dab at the sweat on his brow with the back of his gloved hand.

“Too warm for you?”, Ciel smirked mockingly.

Sebastian smirked back at him but seemed to sway marginally in place, were we was standing by Ciel’s left shoulder. Ciel turned slightly in his chair to look properly at his butler.

 _Could it be that he is paler than usual?_ , the boy wondered.

“Sebastian?”

“Young Master…”, Sebastian began slowly, carefully, “Have you noticed how easy it was for us to find that room and the soul fragment repository?”

Ciel frowned.

“A trap?”

Sebastian nodded slowly. He had an uncharacteristic expression on his face. _Is he in pain?_ , the boy wondered, now fully turning his body towards his butler.

“Please forgive my recklessness, Young Master, for I’m afraid I fell right into their… no… _his_ snare.”, the demon said weakly, dropping to one knee in front of his contractor.

“Undertaker.”, Ciel whispered, certain that this was the _he_ Sebastian was referring to.

Sebastian nodded again.

“But… what do you mean? What is this? How could soul fragments hurt someone like you?”

Sebastian took a deep intake of breath and leaned heavily on his bent knee.

“I can only notice it now…”, the demon drawled slowly, “… a metallic aftertaste…”

“Scythe metal!”, Ciel exclaimed, alarmed. He raised to his feet right before Sebastian crumbled to the floor. The earl pulled the cordon connected to the bell at the servants’ quarters, calling Finnian to his presence.

With Sebastian in this state, Finnian didn’t represent enough protection. A bigger retreat was in order.

They had to return to the Phantomhive Manor as fast as they could.


	4. Chapter 4

When Finnian first tried to help Sebastian to his feet, the butler bent over and vomited a foul smelling, sticky black substance. He appeared feverish and seemed to be having difficulty breathing, what Ciel knew made no sense whatsoever, for those were all very human reactions, which the demon shouldn’t be able to exhibit.

After a few minutes, though, Sebastian was collected enough to go into the carriage with only little assistance from a very worried Finnian.

“There, there, Mister Sebastian…”, said Finnian, while helping Sebastian so sit across from Ciel on the carriage’s cabin, “Don’t worry about a thing, I’ll steer the horses right back home. You’ll be fine in no time, you’ll see.”

Finnian stepped down out of the carriage with a short bow.

“Young Master.”, he said kindly, with his trademark sunny smile, carefully closing the door to the carriage and hopping into the coachman’s bench at the front. Soon, they were ridding back to the Phantomhive Manor at a confident pace.

Ciel first resorted to stare aimlessly at the passing buildings, then conceded to discreetly and obliquely observe Sebastian. The butler was shaking in place as if he was fighting a strong fever, seemingly putting great effort into keeping himself sat upright. His eyes were… closed? Ciel turned his head to properly stare at his butler.

“Sebastian?”, he whispered softly, almost shyly.

“Yes, Young Master?”, came the equally soft reply, eyes still closed.

“Don’t you _dare_ puking on me or on the upholstery.”, the earl replied acidly in a tone of voice completely stripped of any softness.

Sebastian smirked, one eye opening to amusedly stare at the boy. Then, his expression fell into one of deep disgust and he closed his eyes again, turning his face to the other side and noticeably stopping to breathe through his nose.

Something in this behaviour made Ciel inexplicably uncomfortable, but he decided to ignore that peculiar feeling and pulled his newspaper out of his pocket so that he could finish reading it.

Minutes passed, the sound of the horses’ shoes rhythmically stomping on the ground contributing to calm Ciel’s mind down. Now that there was nothing to be done about the most recent events, except wait for their arrival at the manor, he began to consider the implications of the results of their investigation.

With the help of Bravat and his arguably supernatural abilities and/or instruments, Undertaker had devised a somewhat ingenious way of collecting the last piece he needed in order to perfect his bizarre dolls: souls. He had also expected Ciel and his demon to eventually come meddle into his business and prevised accordingly. Or perhaps he simply applied an effective method of warding against any demons and other soul-devouring creatures that might be attracted to his soul fragment collection.

The beautiful corpses Sebastian had found the previous night were probably Sphere Music Hall regulars that had attended one too many closed events and had their souls wholly sucked out of them. Ciel refused to pose the possibility that such had been Lizzie’s fate.

The ex-Weston students’ involvement made even more sense now that it seemed obvious that Undertaker was behind all this, though Ciel doubted they actually knew about what was really going on in that place. Most probably, they were simply turning Bravat’s enchantments into music form unknowingly.

Why was it so obvious to Ciel that Undertaker was involved in any of this, though? The scythe metal poisoned soul soup? Or that… dream?

Ciel rubbed at the side of his head and sighed.

Suddenly, he noticed something odd. Sebastian seemed to slowly be inching away from him, closer and closer to the window on the other side of the cabin.

For some reason, the inexplicably uncomfortable feeling returned. Ciel felt himself grow enraged even though he didn’t precisely know why.

On a whim, he half stood and moved sideways, sitting back down right in front of Sebastian.

The other’s reaction was strong and immediate. The next thing Ciel knew, Sebastian was on the other side of the seat, the farthest away from him as possible, body turned away from the earl, face scrunched in disgust and smooched against the windowpane, eyes firmly shut, no breathing movements.

For a couple of seconds, Ciel didn’t react. All he could feel was that rage, and something odd, uncomfortable, almost painful. He opened his mouth a couple of times, only to end up abruptly closing it. _What on earth is going on?_

“Sebastian. Look at me.”

No reaction. Ciel half raised, attempting to come closer to his butler, highly motivated to slap him hard across the face for his insolence, perhaps even punch the scoundrel with the Phantomhive’s heavy signet ring. 

But Sebastian moved supernaturally fast, suddenly opening his red glowing eyes and extending his right arm to keep Ciel at bay.

“Don’t come any closer. Right now, your soul nauseates me.”, he half spitted, half growled, the red in his demonic eyes practically pulsating.

Ciel felt a sting in his right eye and numbly fell back into his previous sitting position. The carriage came to a halt. Sebastian was out of the door immediately, bending over and retching violently on the gravel in front of the manor’s façade. Then, he promptly fell on his hands and knees into his own disgusting, thick, black puke.

Finnian was on him in a matter of seconds, rubbing his back and whispering kind nonsense to him, as if Sebastian was a little human child in need of comfort. Mey-Rin and Baldroy came running down the stone stairs and they too went to help Sebastian back to his feet, all looking very worried.

Somehow, this scene only contributed to make Ciel’s inexplicable rage escalate. When he heard Sebastian starting to throw instructions at the servants, Ciel indignantly raised from his seat and moved to come down the carriage without assistance, but stopped shortly at hearing the demon speak about him.

“… and keep the Young Master away from me, I don’t want him to see me like this.”

The servants all nodded sympathetically, murmuring words of understanding.

Ciel opened his mouth to give them a scathing counter-order, but stopped himself. Why was this behaviour of Sebastian’s affecting him so intensely? He felt like savagely stabbing his butler with his fencing sword, then throw acid at the remains and burn them.

Instead, he stood on the carriage’s step, looking stunned, simply staring at Sebastian being led into the house by Finnian, until Baldroy and Mey-Rin finally came for the luggage and him, respectively.

 

* * *

Ciel reckoned that, because the demon hadn’t shown overwhelming disgust towards any of the other staff members, Undertaker’s poison was apparently affecting their contract in particular, making Sebastian specifically reject Ciel’s soul. If there was something that the Earl of Phantomhive wasn’t used to was being rejected. Even if said rejection came from the hellish creature that was trying to devour his soul. Or perhaps… precisely _because_ of it.

But the haughty Earl of Phantomhive utterly refused to let any such trifles interfere with the normal unfolding of his day.

At luncheon, Tanaka quietly informed the earl that the butler’s condition had worsened.

He didn’t ask to see Sebastian.

At supper, Mey-Rin looked pale and anxious, close to tears even, no doubt worried about the butler.

Ciel still didn’t ask to see him.

By bedtime, Tanaka didn’t spontaneously give Ciel any details about Sebastian’s state, neither did Ciel ask him about the matter.

“Goodnight, Young Master.”, Tanaka said, carefully closing the bedroom door behind him.

Ciel turned on his right side in the bed and attempted to lull himself to sleep by contently plotting Sebastian’s punishment for this insolence. However, he went through all the possible panorama, exhausted every conceivable machination and sleep still wouldn’t come his way.

The uncomfortable feeling had returned as well, more intense than before. Ciel valiantly refused to address its meaning. _What if there is no Sebastian to punish?_ , his traitorous, tired mind supplied. The boy turned to the other side, sharply reminding himself that nothing could kill the monster that was his butler. Sebastian would certainly heal himself during the night and come to wake him up the following morning, or were he not truly one hell of a butler.

After a few minutes of a quieter state of mind that almost allowed the earl his much needed sleep, an intrusive doubt was born. If Sebastian were to actually die, would the servants wait till morning to inform him of the fact?

Ciel sat up in bed, fully awake. 

Blindly, he fumbled with his hands on the nightstand until he succeeded in lighting a match with which he lit the oil lamp. That done, he took a look at his reflection in the glass water jug, also on his bedside table. 

A sight of relief. The violet contract seal was still perfectly visible in his right eye.

Reclining against his pillows, Ciel mournfully accepted that he wouldn’t be able to sleep that night unless he did something about his butler’s condition. Regardless of how much it displeased him, the earl really needed to address this particular trifle.

After some thought, he pulled the cordon that rang the bell on the servants’ quarters. A tired-looking Mey-Rin, still wearing her uniform, was before him in less than five minutes.


	5. Chapter 5

##  _Present time…_

 

Apparently, Ciel had lost consciousness at some point. He could now vaguely hear the sound of muffled voices. There was an odd quality to the reverberation they produced, as if Ciel was listening to them from underwater. But they seemed close, gradually more so.

As his hearing slowly returned to normal, Ciel fumbled in the nearly absolute darkness, grabbing at the bed covers once again and, with effort, pulled himself to his feet by the bed.

The lamp must’ve gone off while he was unconscious, but that was the least of his worries, as Mey-Rin, Baldroy, and possibly the priest, were on the other side of the door, bewildered by it being locked.

“Mister Sebastian, are you alright in there? Are you feeling better?”, asked Mey-Rin shyly.

Both the moonlight and the little light that filtered into the room from the window and from under the door, respectively, made Sebastian look more like what he truly was, a literal creature of the shadows, much like Ciel himself, only figuratively in the child’s particular case. Or perhaps not so figuratively after all.

“Be certain that I won’t let you escape unscathed from disobeying my orders. But…”, Ciel whispered, so that the people outside the room wouldn’t be able to hear him, “… but I understand that no order is to be issued when you’re like this.”, he made a long pause, uncertain about how to proceed.

“I know that, even though [I told you to always go through every step of daily chores like a human would](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mangapanda.com%2Fkuroshitsuji%2F62%2F29&t=MDI5MzY3ZjZiYWQxZDYyYzUwNWQyODRlZjAwMmYwNWRkMDdjNWU4MyxIREpNU0UzTw%3D%3D), you can - and have - healed yourself before[.](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mangapanda.com%2Fkuroshitsuji%2F91%2F3&t=MmJjNGEwNDMxY2E4Y2NhYzU2ODEwMWZiZmZmOTU0MzZhNGE3MWM5NixIREpNU0UzTw%3D%3D) So… if you can, please do it now.”

A few seconds passed. There was no change.

Perhaps Sebastian really couldn’t heal himself this time? Perhaps he needed a little help?

“Maybe he is feeling unwell, maybe he fainted… Maybe… Maybe… And I couldn’t even bring the priest…”, Mey-Rin was saying pitifully.

Ciel didn’t know what else to do. He resorted to thinking out loud, albeit quietly.

“I understand this is a supernatural injury, like the scythe’s slash. And that’s probably why you’re just lying there, but… there isn’t any open wound to be healed this time… It’s like…”

“That’s it, I’ll force this door open, Mister Sebastian. I’ll count to ten!”, Baldroy announced.

“It’s like you’ve been…”

The image of the hollow pedestal, half-filled with starlight-like liquid suddenly slapped itself across the earl’s memories. He shook his head as if to clear it.

“… no. You _have_ been poisoned. That much is clear.”

“One…”

“The scythe metal… you need it out of your body. Vomit didn’t work. Not on its own. I’m not even sure you… er… use the chamber-pot…”, the earl went on, undisturbed by Baldroy’s count.

“… Four…”

“But I know that you can ingest human food and I have seen you sweat.”, the earl considered the cold fireplace thoughtfully. “If demons really do come from hell, I reckon fire shouldn’t…”

“… Eight…”

“But you seem to be stuck in your human form for now…” _Perhaps that is why he can’t just heal himself?_ “Mm. Yes. It’s worth a try.”

“…Ten!”

Ciel was safely hiding under Sebastian’s bed when Baldroy burst the door open. Mey-Rin followed him shortly, stumbling on the edge of the tilted door and dropping the candelabrum she was holding.

The cook and the maid tried to collect all the fallen candles, frantically putting out the ones that threatened to lit fabric aflame. Ciel took the chance of their confusion and the darkness of a momentarily cloud-covered moon to get out of the room and into the corridor.

He successfully avoided being noticed by Finnian, who came into the corridor seconds after Ciel passed his bedroom door, no doubt woken by the commotion created by Baldroy and Mey-Rin. They all must have been truly exhausted, for Ciel was sure that he wouldn’t be able to escape unnoticed by them any other day.

Either way, a cheerful resolve was now moving the earl.

 _I’ll make you wake up, you indolent fiend. Even if, to do so, I have to roast you like a chicken and watch your fat melt away into the hearth_., the earl thought in a morbidly happy tone as he made his way back to his chambers.

A few minutes later, the bell rang in the servant’s quarters. Tanaka answered to the little lord’s call, took his instructions without a tinge of hesitance and delegated the issued orders to the rest of the staff, who immediately put them in motion.


	6. Chapter 6

A few hours later, when the sun started caressing the manor’s façade, Tanaka came to attend to the earl’s morning needs in Sebastian’s stead.

Ciel observed the decorous old man from his pillows while he prepared the tea. The boy refused to accept what he was feeling as disappointment.

“Did the treatment not have any results?”, _Why isn’t he here yet?_

The elderly human graced his lord with a kind smile and dutifully passed him the teacup and saucer.

“The treatment seems to be working, albeit slowly. I daresay it’s still early to draw a definite verdict, as we’ve only implemented Young Master’s orders a few hours ago. However, I’m positive Mr. Sebastian will have a full recovery before the end of today.”, Tanaka answered.

Ciel spared a curt nod to that and took a sip from his tea. It tasted good, but not excellent. He repressed a sigh.

“I’ll go down to his room before luncheon to check on the proceedings.”, he declared, no discussion allowed.

Tanaka made a small deferent bow. “I’m certain you’ll be satisfied with our work.”

 

* * *

Ciel knocked on the door this time, but opened it without waiting for a reply. An intensely warm, heavy wave of air came from inside, making the earl feel like he was overheating even before actually setting foot in the room. Mey-Rin quietly followed behind him.

As per his instructions, the fire was running at full force in the fireplace. Sebastian’s bed had been moved to stand right alongside it. Three low braziers surrounded the side of the bed most distant to the fireplace in a half circle. 

In the iron-built bed, underneath many warm blankets and covered up to his nose, laid Sebastian himself. Brow glistening with sweat, deep breathing audible over the crackling of the fire, the demon had never before looked as much as a human.

“How many times have you changed his linens?”

“Four times, Young Master.”, Mey-Rin promptly replied, “They were soaked through in sweat each time.”

“Good. Have you been giving him tepid water regularly?”

“Y-yes, Young Master. Just like you instructed. In the beginning, he wouldn’t drink it, but now he has started to ask for it.”, the maid said while adjusting her thick glasses over her sweaty nose, “I was just going to get him some more right now.”

“Then go. You may leave us.”, Ciel said dismissively.

Mey-Rin seemed hesitant for a fraction of a second, then took a small peek at the prostrated butler and nodded.

“Y-yes, my lord.”

She made a small curtsey and left, closing the door behind herself to keep the warmth inside, just like the earl had instructed.

Ciel hooked a finger in his collar to loosen it a bit. He felt like he was suffocating.

“Too warm for you, Young Master?”, a muffled familiar voice mocked him from the bed.

Ciel couldn’t help it, he dabbed at his sweaty brow with his sleeve and laughed. Not only that, he guffawed. The earl would never admit that relief was the main instigator of that aberrant reaction, though.

“Like a chicken in an oven.”, he replied agreeably, after a while trying to get his composure back. The brown eyes looking up at him from the bed were amused as well.

Ciel came closer to his recumbent butler. Sebastian struggled to get his chin out from under the blankets.

“I see you’re finally awake.”, Ciel stated, matter-of-factly.

“So are you. Although I wager Tanaka’s awakening methods aren’t as violent as yours.”, Sebastian drawled hoarsely.

“Both were effective. And I would’ve never resorted to this sort of intervention if you’d simply obeyed my orders. Rest assured that you will be punished for your incompetence, demon.”

Sebastian nodded, irritating little smirk in place. With effort, he pulled his right arm from under the small hill of blankets and gently touched the left side of Ciel’s chin with the back of his index and middle fingers.

“Thank you for your troubles, Young Master.”, he whispered, much like a purr.

Ciel simply nodded. Sebastian nodded back at the earl and dropped his arm on the bed.

A long pause followed, Sebastian gazing at the fire and Ciel craving to get away from that stiflingly warm place. Then, as if suddenly remembering something distasteful, Ciel nearly pouted. He opened his mouth to speak. Hesitated.

“Does… does my soul still nauseate you?”

Sebastian sluggishly looked away from the fire and up to the right, unrevealing eyes focusing on Ciel’s own, gauging him. Whatever he saw there made him smirk once again. But it was a different kind of smirk.

“No.”, he replied softly, almost tenderly.

Oddly enough, or perhaps not nearly as oddly as one might expect, Ciel was happy for that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? Did you like it? If you did, you can go thank sweet [black--kuro](http://black--kuro.tumblr.com/) for inspiring me for this one. (^_~) Also, I love kudos!


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